Section C.7.6.16.2.11.1.2

C.7.6.16.2.11.1.2 Real World Values Mapping Sequence Attributes

The Real World Value First Value Mapped (0040,9216) and Real World Value Last Value Mapped (0040,9211) Attributes describe the range of stored pixel values that are mapped by the Sequence Item. Stored pixel values less than the first value mapped, or greater than the last value mapped have no real value attached.

When the Real World Value Intercept (0040,9224) and Real World Value Slope (0040,9225) attributes are supplied, the stored value (SV) is converted to a real world value (RV) using the equation:

RV = (Real World Value Slope) * SV + Real World Value Intercept

When the Real World Value LUT Data (0040,9212) attribute is supplied, Real World Values are obtained via a lookup operation. The stored pixel value of the first value mapped is mapped to the first entry in the LUT Data. Subsequent stored pixel values are mapped to the subsequent entries in the LUT Data up to a stored pixel value equal to the last value mapped.

The number of entries in the LUT data is given by:

Number of entries = Real World Value Last Value Mapped- Real World Value First Value Mapped + 1

Note

If the stored pixel values that are encoded as floating point rather than integer values, only the equation and not the lookup operation is defined.

The Value Representation of Real World Value First Value Mapped (0040,9216) and Real World Value Last Value Mapped (0040,9211) (US or SS) is determined by the value of Pixel Representation (0028,0103) in the case of integer pixel data, or is SS in the case of floating point pixel data if these Attributes are present.

Note

In practice, integer values may well be sufficient to define an input range that exceeds the actual stored floating point pixel value range. The reason to permit floating point alternatives to an integer range is that sometimnes the stored floating point values may be very large and exceed what can be specified as an integer value.

The physical units for the real world values obtained from the sequence item are given by the Measurement Units Code Sequence (0040,08EA).

The quantity that the real world values represent may be described by the Quantity Definition Sequence (0040,9220), which consists of a list of name-value pairs, in which the coded concept name specifies what aspect of the physical quantity is being described.

Note

For example, Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) may be described by units and quantity as follows:

The Quantity Definition Sequence (0040,9220) describes only the stored pixel values that are mapped using the Real
World Values Mapping, and does not describe derived values from multiple pixels to
which the Real World Values Mapping applies.

Note

I.e., the mapping is a "point" operation, and
as a consequence various modifiers that might be applied to a group of pixels,
such as in an ROI, should not be used. E.g., an ROI encoded in a Structured Report
using TID 1419 "ROI Measurements" might be the mean or maximum value (e.g., SUVbw
mean or SUVbw max), and be encoded with (121401, DCM, "Derivation") = (R-00317, SRT, "Mean") or (G-A437, SRT, "Maximum"), respectively. These would not be
appropriate to use within Quantity Definition Sequence (0040,9220), unless the
individual pixel values were themselves derived in such a manner, e.g., when
multiple images are averaged together. Thus the content items used in an SR to
describe an ROI might be a superset of the name-value pairs used in Quantity
Definition Sequence (0040,9220).